Monday, December 14, 2015

It Ain't Easy Being an Elf

The Santaland Diaries --- MTC Mainstage -- Thru Dec. 20

Matt Densky as "Crumpet"

So you come to New York with stars in your eyes and hopes
of landing a role in one of your beloved soap operas. Oh, silly you! Out of
work, you read an ad that announces that Macy’s – yes, the biggest store in the
world – is hiring -- hiring elves for its Santaland. You say, “What hell!” and
go for an interview and, wonder of wonders, you land the job. Be careful what
you wish for.

Such is the premise of The Santaland Diaries, MTC’s Christmas
offering running through December 20 at its new home in Norwalk. Directed by Kevin Connors, this
slight, sarcastic take on the holidays appeals to the Scrooge in all of us. If
you gag at the thought of eggnog, disdain electronic reindeer and whirling
Santas on your front lawn, and wish that every copy of “Here Comes Santa
Claus,” sung by Gene Autry, would magically disappear, then this is the show
for you.

Santaland,
based on a David Sedaris essay and adapted by Joe Mantello, is a one-man,
single-set show that is basically an extended monologue, and as such, rests on
the skills of the actor portraying Crumpet, the elf-name given to the hapless
out-of-work wannabe actor. As Crumpet, Matt Densky fills the turned-up elf
shoes admirably, although one might ask him to tone down the fey aspects of
elfishness a bit –there’s just one too many strokes of the eyebrow.

However, the story Crumpet tells is
entertaining, for he is exposed to all the mania and hype that the holidays can
offer as he shuttles visitors into the magical world of Santaland, visitors who
include youngsters terrified of Santa, visitors who wish to capture the moment
on film as if it is a Cecil B. DeMille production, visitors (from New Jersey)
who tell Santa they “Want a broad with big tits” for Christmas (Haw! Haw! Haw!),
visitors who pee on Santa’s lap or toss soiled diapers into the decorations,
and foreign visitors who are essentially clueless.

Then there are the Santas, a mixed
lot of lost souls who handle the visitors with various degrees of kind
attention or disdain.

Then there are Crumpet’s fellow
elves, a varied lot of folks who would rather be anywhere else than in Macy’s
dressed as elves (“I’m really an actress!”) and who, in devious and not so
devious ways, deal with the long lines of Christmas shoppers who wish to
whisper their consumer wishes into Santa’s ear.

Densky romps about the candy-cane
set, designed by Carl Tallent, as he tells his tale of holiday woe, striking
poses and evoking the various matrons, children and fathers who have come to
worship at Santa’s boots. He is arch, snarky and, if nothing else, the essence
of the put-upon, all-suffering Santa’s helper.

The only false note in the evening
is its conclusion, for Sedaris – and Mantello – can’t help but succumb to the
candy-cane-Miracle-on-34th-Street-Christmas-in-Connecticut-Grinch-Rudolph-Scrooge-God-Bless-Us-All
syndrome, for on the “last shopping day” Crumpet gets to work with a Santa who
goes off script and asks questions of the visitors that evoke the “true spirit
of Christmas.” It’s a maudlin touch that, I guess, is meant to bring a tear to
the eye, but for those of us who would have written a different editorial to
little Virginia
when she asked if there really was a Santa Claus, it only confirms that you
can’t keep cant out of Christmas.

God rest ye merry gentlemen, for
the season will pass and all that will be left will be the credit card bills, a
lot of torn wrapping paper and dead pine trees lining the curb. Oh come all ye
faithful to the malls!

The
Santaland Diaries runs through Dec. 20. For further information or ticket
reservations call the box office at: 203.454.3883 or visit: www.musictheatreofct.com.